Driza-Bone

A deeply dishonest or just delusional business? Hard for me to be sure – This is supposed to be a classic Australian brand, making clothes that they (in their own literature) wish to associate with "grit and resilience". If they want to have a brand with any value at all they need to take those words far more to heart in both the products they produce and their support for those products. Unfortunatley, we bought a hat… Read more

from this company in 2016. It's something my girlfriend has just used on a few occasions, partially because she did not want to lose it (it being a relatively expensive hat, and I must say a very nice one in terms of the appearance). The fabric of the hat is in like new condition for this reason. We were, then, very sorry to discover that a band around the hat (made of a material that looks like leather) had started to spontaneously flake (in just the way that PU "leather" - i.e. a fake leather, petrochemical material - flakes). I am 52 now, and I have never seen leather flake in this way. I was most surprised by this. I wrote to the company and sent them pictures. I assumed they would agree to sort this out, given that they present as a premium brand. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Not only did Driza-Bone hide behind their formal warranty of 1 year (which would not fulfill their duties under the Australian Consumer Law, particularly article 54), but they also, repeatedly, presented me with arguments that were either delusional or dishonest. For a start they claimed that the material is leather. I suggested that if it is leather, then it had either not been prepared appropriately to last, or had been prepared in a way which had caused it to degrade prematurely. They argued that it was normal for leather to degrade in this way, and that it requires constant treatment with specialised products. I noted that it is certainly not normal for leather to degrade in this way. I have many leather products which I have had for far longer than this hat, which have never required any special treatment, and which are still in tip-top form. For one particularly pertinent example, I have an Akubra (hat) which was given to me for my 21st birthday (i.e. over three decades ago). It has quite a bit of leather on it and that leather looks as new (and has never been treated). Driza-Bone simply ignored these points. I noted furthermore that if specific materials this company is using require specialised maintenance treatment then this needs to be communicated via the literature that comes with their products. The company has never claimed that they provided any relevant instructions, and (as we read instructions carefully) we can only agree that the company did not provide these. As before, the company – presented with points to which it has no answer – simply did its best to ignore the problems with its position and kept plodding away with patently irrelevant gumph. The next angle they tried was quoting "Google's summary" of "leather cracking". There are only three problems with this. Most obviously, what on earth is this company that should be an expert in the use of materials such as leather doing quoting "Google's summary"? Second, the problem here is obviously not "cracking" (it is disintegration into little pieces, as if one were using a rubber/eraser). The third problem was that the material they presented under the "Google summary", insofar as it had not already been dealt with, related to the degrading effects of sun exposure. The problem for the company is that such effects are just as apparent, if not more apparent, on fabric as leather, and the fabric of this hat is not the slightest bit faded or degraded. It is as new. It's rare that a business, supporting what is supposed to be a premium brand, digs itself into a hole quite as deep as the one Driza-Bone has been excavating here. The most charitable interpretation is that these people are merely delusional and making fools of themselves. I am afraid that, at this point, a more negative conclusion seems to me the most appropriate one.

Avoid – Took several weeks to ship, after it was received I sent an enquiry about a return and have not heard anything - been over a month now and after many follow up emails I have given up. Tried several times to call their customer service line but is apparently never available during normal business hours, left a voicemail but haven't heard back. For… Read more

the price you pay for these products you think you might have a better experience.

The product is good quality, but I would not recommend purchasing anything from them online.

Don’t order online – Ordered 4 weeks ago, with express shipping. The item Is still not shipped. I have emailed twice with no response and the customer service line does not answer. T&C’s state that you cannot request a refund until the item is received. I bought the jacket for the cold morning to walk the dog, at this rate I may not even receive it until it warms back up.

Great items, abysmal service – Purchased some cloth items online, indicated as 'in stock'. Processing times quoted '1-7 days' 9 days later, order status haven't changed, nothing was shipped. Customer service line does not answer. Chat button appears on website when it's offline, but disappears when it's business hours. I've always loved their clothes, especially… Read more

australian-made vintage line, but purchasing them online from driza-bone itself turned out to be very sad experience.

I hope they improve their online service eventually, but right now it seems that it doesn't function very well.